THE REAL DEAL

Ask Japanese people about Osaka and you’ll get similar replies. Osakans love to indulge in food. They are more outgoing than their counterparts elsewhere in the country. And they love to make a deal. That reputation is reinforced by the local

“Osaka is a merchant city where small business has always thrived”

A dialect, with words such as – eat until you drop – and the casual Osakan greeting, you making money? Traditionally, that’s met with a cagey – so so. Home to 2.7 million people – almost nine million if you count the entire prefecture – Osaka has business running through its veins. Roughly 500km west of Tokyo, the city grew as a major centre of commerce in the Edo era (1603-1868), and developed industrially its guide to the city – and there are numerous businesses related to the environment, energy, the internet of things, robot technologies, and health and medical services.